Inside Ashfield artist Jim Murphy’s garage-turned-art-studio on Route 116, the strong scent of oil paints lingers long after he has finished painting — emanating from well-used brushes, creased paint tubes and a still-wet painting of a landscape in Ireland.
“Maybe this — I’m kinda happy with this one,” he says, pulling from a shelf a gold-framed picture of a draft horse, painted in Conway. He’s a man with a firm handshake who speaks to the point, his smile creasing to sparkling hazel eyes.
It’s apparent from the painting, and dozens of other canvases stored on shelves and displayed on walls around the studio, that Murphy appreciates inverse colors — shades of blue highlighted by splashes of gold.
“I used to stand here painting, when this was a garage door. (My neighbor) would always say I used too much blue,” he says with a laugh, pointing to a wall on the other side of the studio.
The painting is a favorite. It’s simple — a sturdy horse captured in minimal brush strokes. It’s a glimpse into the mind of an artist who appreciates everyday beauty.
One of his paintings, “The Barn at Pumpkin Hollow,” will be auctioned off on Sunday to raise money for the victims of a recent tornado that ripped through the Pumpkin Hollow section of Conway.
He paints in oil, but has worked with watercolors and other media. He’s inspired by scenes typical to New England, including barns, rocky coastlines and peaceful Acadian forest landscapes.
Murphy is a trail runner, often finding remote areas during his runs. After a run, he’ll return with a canvas, brushes and paint to “record my emotional reaction to a particular landscape at a particular time.”
To that end, Murphy paints in broad strokes using soft tones to capture peaceful, in-between moments in rustic boldness.
“It’s hard to describe,” he says, lit by afternoon sunlight pouring through large windows. “I’m drawn to it. Better off when I’m doing it than not. It helps keep me balanced.” He adds, “I’m trying to record my emotional reaction to a particular landscape at a particular time. It’s often very torturous — it’s not a walk in the park. You want to get it right, and there are lots of ways to get it wrong.”
Murphy, who retired from a career in human services, started drawing when he was young. It was a passion that led him to attend Massachusetts College of Art and Design, graduating in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts with an emphasis on painting and illustration.
Today, he’s a full-time artist, occasionally teaching. His work is sold at the Greenfield Gallery and The Daylily in South Deerfield, among other galleries.
A week before a tornado tore through Pumpkin Hollow in Conway on Feb. 25, Murphy put the finishing touches on an oil painting of John and Jan Maggs’s historic 1860s-era barn, demolished by the storm.
The painting is dramatic, with saturated red tones popping out against a dark sky, framed by white snow. The last rays of golden sun touch treetops on a distant mountain. A figure stands in the yard, seemingly heading inside, but distracted by something out of the frame.
It’s the calm before the storm, although Murphy didn’t know it at the time.
As he explained earlier, sitting in the teal-walled kitchen of his historic house — a former 1800s schoolhouse with high ceilings that he owns with his wife, Diane Sibley — the painting has taken on a deeper significance because the barn was lost.
“The attempt is to do the painting meaningful to me. A painting is a personal thing,” he says, seated at a round table lit by sunlight pouring in through a double hung window. “Pumpkin Hollow and that barn are personal to a lot of people.”
Murphy donated his painting, “The Barn at Pumpkin Hollow,” in response to the barn’s destruction and a desire to help those affected by the tornado. It will be sold at a silent auction Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Conway Grammar School. Proceeds from the silent auction will go to the Tornado Relief Fund set up by the town.
If all goes as planned, Murphy says, this summer, during Conway’s 250th anniversary celebration, there will be more of his prints available for purchase.
For more information, visit Murphy’s website:
www.jimmurphyfineart.com